Karissa-Keller-HSA-320-1401B-02-Phase-5-IP-March-24-2014
Memorial Awaiting and Ethical Standards
Colorado Technical University
Administration in Healthcare Services HSA 320
Several components go into making an organization run effectively and efficiently. One of the many components requires managers to manage teams during projects or changes within the organization. In the healthcare industry running of teams or employees is even more imperative to running in an effective and efficient manner because they are dealing with the lives and health of patients.
There are times when an employee is not performing to the standards of the organization or facility, and corrective action needs to be taken to get the employee performing at the standards set forth by the facility. Corrective action is used within organizations with the purpose of identifying and eliminating causes of a problem by: correcting, molding, or improving performance or behavior that is job-related CITATION Ind10 l 1033 (Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis, 2010). A Corrective Action Plan allows facilities to take the necessary steps of action to correct the problem of performance. The goal of the corrective action plan is to discover what is causing the employee to have performance problems and give that employee a chance to correct this performance problem before taking the final step in the termination of the employee. The first step of the corrective action plan will be counseling of the employee. The next step in the corrective action plan would involve a written reprimand. The third step is suspension of the employee without pay. The last step in the corrective action plan is the termination of the employee CITATION Uni07 l 1033 (University of New Hampshire, 2007).
Communication has always been a vital component to an organization running effectively and effectively. Poor communication can be the determining factor that can bring an organization to its knees. Communication is also vital during changes within the facility or organization, so that the change will have minimal negative effective. This change can be in the form of implementing an EHR system. There are different types of communication we use, such as verbal and non-verbal. Using these different types of communication during change can ease the transition of the change. Change is an automatic switch for some people. People in general fear the unknown and this is what change brings; the unknown. Communication before and during an EHR system implementation can help answer employees questions, calm employees fears, and keep them focused and motivated CITATION Cro12 l 1033 (Crosnick, 2012). The key during this implementation is to be patient and supportive. Your employees are trying to deal with this change while fulfilling their job responsibilities. Let them know that you are going to be there to provide support, encouragement, and even gratitude during this stressful time.
Organizational charts provide employees a physical structure of the organization. Employees need to know whom they are reporting to if a problem should arise. Without a formal organizational structure, employees may find it difficult to know whom they officially report to in different situations, and it may become unclear exactly who has the final responsibility for what. In essence, an organizational structure gives guidance to employees by laying out the relationships that essentially govern the organization’s workflow.
Our mission at Memorial Awaiting is to provide and deliver healthcare services of high quality, integrity, and compassion to the members of the community. Our values are to assure a continuous quality of improvement, while providing excellent services to our patients and staff. Our values also include recognizing and valuing the members of the community, recognize a patient’s basic rights to respect, privacy, dignity, understanding, regardless of their spiritual beliefs. We vow to manage all fiscal responsibility with high integrity while meeting our charitable responsibilities as well.
The types of services offered at Memorial Awaiting include Heart and Vascular Services, a Cancer Center, Birthing Center and Maternity Services, Pediatric, and 24-hour Emergency Services. Memorial Awaiting is a licensed facility that has 350 beds and offer services as inpatient or outpatient. Our staff consists of 250, combining clinical staff and non-clinical staff. Our clinical staff consists of physicians, physician’s assistants, nurse, and medical assistants. Our non-clinical staff includes health care managers, health technologists, administrative and administrative support services. We will several departments located within the facility such as, Human Resources, Billing, and an IT team.
Even though each of these services and departments will function differently from one another, communication between these departments and the staff will be heavily relied upon in order to effectively and efficiently deliver health care services that match our mission and values.
The Hippocratic Oath is one of the oldest set of principles that medical professionals follow to this day. Ethical standards allow for an extension upon the Hippocratic Oath so that health care professionals, as well as facilities, to deliver health care services while complying with federal and state laws and standards. Ethical standards actually promote a better standard of health care by eliminating errors, which could potentially occur due to medical professionals acting on their own. Ethical standards give doctors a certain set of guidelines to work within; deterring the doctor from working from their own volition.
Ethical standards also have an important role in medical research, due to some research may raise an ethical issue. Having these ethical principles as a guideline in conducting research for the purpose of discovering new cures and treatments for diseases. Healthcare facilities perform research on a daily basis, such as St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and Cancer Treatment Centers of America, to develop new or alternative treatment and cures for those who otherwise would succumb to their illnesses and diseases.
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital is doing miraculous work in healing children. They are constantly developing new methods and treatments for children who have diseases that are difficult for traditional treatments to cure. St. Jude had done such a phenomenal job in making discoveries in treatments and giving children and their families a chance at a life that would otherwise not likely take place. Since opening their doors in 1962, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital has increased the survival rate of children with cancer from 20 percent to 80 percent CITATION StJ14 l 1033 (St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, 2014). Hands down, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital is the leader in cutting edge research for children with cancer. By them strictly enforcing and following their ethical standards; St. Jude has done ground breaking accomplishments, saving hundreds of kid’s lives, and ultimately gaining my unwavering respect.
Cancer Treatment Centers of America, CTCA, is another facility that strictly enforces and follows their established ethical standards. In doing so, CTCA has become a formable force in helping patients fight cancer and live to tell their stories. CTCA operates under a certain set of principles, such as the Mother Standard, which implies that the care given is the care that anyone would want their mother to receive CITATION Can14 l 1033 (Cancer Treatment Centers of America, 2014). This type of attention to care is the reason why people go to CTCA to get the best treatment that is specifically tailored to the individual patient’s needs.
Memorial Awaiting is not different to other facilities; we have our own set of ethical standards that must be followed at all times. The following five ethical standards should be honored every day we open our doors to provide health care services that seek it out.
Strive to achieve the best physical as well as emotional health of our patients while upholding the individual patient’s worth and dignity.
Strive to achieve the highest quality and effectiveness in both the process and services of healthcare.
Avoid actions and circumstances that could compromise the practice of good business judgment and/or create a conflict between interest of a personal and professional nature.
Hold ourselves accountable to patients, patients’ families, as well as our fellow health care professionals to communicate in a manner that is effective and efficient in when coordinating care for patients.
Protect the confidentiality rights of the patient and of their health record at all times and refuse those not authorized to get information about the patient or the patient’s health record.
Presentation of these ethical standards will be delivered during the orientation of new staff. The new staff will sign an agreement that they will abide by all ethical standards at all times. If a staff member should violate or not act in accordance with any of the standards, than the proper action to remedy the staff member’s action will be taken. To keep all staff members up to date and to refresh the memory of all the staff; every six months training should be implemented that entails the ethical standards.
Above all, we at Memorial Awaiting are dedicated in delivering health care services in a high quality manner and with integrity and compassion. Our patients’ health is at our foremost priority.
References
BIBLIOGRAPHY l 1033 Cancer Treatment Centers of America. (2014). About Us. Retrieved from http://www.cancercenter.com/about-us/
Crosnick, M. (2012). EHR Implementation Process Requires Communication. Retrieved from HITECH: http://www.hitechanswers.net/ehr-implementation-process-requires-communication/
First Insight. (2013). Successful EHR Implementation: It’s More About “How You Manage People” . Retrieved from http://www.first-insight.com/downloads/Successful-EHR-Implementation-It’s-About-Managing-People.pdf
Healey, B., & Marhese, M. (2012). Foundations of Health Care Management Principles and Methods. San Francisco: Wiley.
Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis. (2010). Corrective Action: A Supervisor’s Guide to Managing Performance. Retrieved from http://hra.iupui.edu/content/doclib/ProgressiveDisciplineGuide.pdf
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. (2014). St. Jude Facts. Retrieved from http://www.stjude.org/stjude/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=434d1976d1e70110VgnVCM1000001e0215acRCRD&vgnextchannel=ee58ebc7a7319210VgnVCM1000001e0215acRCRD
University of New Hampshire. (2007). Performance Management Toolkit – Constructive Discipline, Corrective Action & Documentation. Retrieved from http://www.unh.edu/hr/sites/unh.edu.hr/files/pdfs/constructive-discipline-and-corrective-action.pdf
